Category: Yay!

So it’s the end of August mid-September January and I’m finally sitting down to write about our little vacation in July. The delay is mostly due to wanting to add photos, of course, but it’s so time-consuming having to go back through the 500+ (or possibly more) photos I took during that week and even more of a pain to upload. But here goes. Oh yeah, and don’t forget the lack of time. Maybe I’ll even upload this entry before August is over! Ahaha. No.

We got all the kids ready to go on July 14th. Gave them breakfast, stuffed the bags in the back of the truck and got all 7 kids in the truck. We made at least 3 trips back into the house because we forgot this or that, Jorge stopped by Taco Palenque for tacos for us and then we took off for Austin!

That was the best photo I could get, believe it or not, hehe.

It was a quiet ride for the most part, as the kids slowly nodded off one by one. Jorge and I took turns picking songs to listen and sing to and then we get to the Falfurrias, TX check point. We wake all the kids up and like always, make jokes about them not being smart asses and saying something that’ll ’cause them to think we’re smuggling children ’cause there’s so many (what with all the smuggling going on these days).

We pass, “US citizens?” “Yes, sir,” and they wave us through.

Jorge jokes, “Alright, we made it!”
Jorgie: “Arriba!!”
Jorge: *breaks into Mexican anthem* “Mexicanos, al grito de Guerra…”

Always a laugh-fest with him and the kids ^_^.

We stopped to eat at McDonald’s in San Marcos at noon. People are usually pretty impressed with how efficient our orders are and how well-behaved our kids are ^_^. We let them have some time in the play area (well, the little ones, anyway) and then we were back on the road.

We made a few stops along the way, checked in at the hotel and finally made it to Dina’s around 5pm. Everyone passed around hugs and welcomes and we settled in. The first place we would be visiting would be the Micki Krebsbach Pool, so we got all the kiddos ready in their swim suits, packed coolers, and we were off.

Eenan is going to kill me if he ever sees this photo on the interwebs, heh. All 4 of the big boys are in this photo ^_^.

The kids had so much fun and reluctantly changed into their dry clothes asking when we’d be back.

We got back to Dina’s and ordered Domino’s. The kids were getting tired so we went back to the hotel. It was a tight squeeze with all our kiddos, since the room was lacking the sofabed it was supposed to have, but we made it work :). After showers were had and everyone put to bed, I pretty much crashed out.

I was the first to wake up the next morning and took Emily with me to get some breakfast. Nobody else was awake, or wanted to go. So I had my coffee and oatmeal and she happily ate her cereal.

Jorge eventually woke up, as did the boys and Alaethia and they all kind of lazied around playing on electronics. That’s what I love about our vacations: we’re not really in a hurry and everything’s calm :).

Jorge took some of the boys to get breakfast. I’d brought some pastries and yogurt and Alaethia, Eenan and Justin were ok with that. We got ready and started our day by getting a few groceries and things we’d need for our second pool day. We get back to Dina’s and start getting the kids ready. We couldn’t find Julien’s trunks anywhere, so we put him in some shorts that LOOKED like trunks and hoped for the best. We packed the bags and coolers once again and took off.

We get to Micki Krebsbach Pool…and it’s closed!! Jorge makes an audible growl and is kind of quiet on the way to the next place Briana knows about in Round Rock called Rock-n-River Family Aquatic Center. We arrive, we pay and
settle into the nearest, empty picnic area. But not before they stop us…because Julien’s trunks aren’t trunks. Ugh. Jorge’s patience was sliced very thin by now, but he kept his patience. And I’m glad, too, because the manager lent us trunks. Briana said they’ll usually kick people out!

The kids have barely stepped into the water when they blow the whistle.

Darn thunder and lightning are threatening to make their way over and everyone’s told to get out of the water. We have to wait 15 minutes before getting back in. If they blow the whistle again, it’s another 15, and so on.

So, we took photos to pass the time :).

The kids were becoming antsy so we gave them snacks. We waited a pretty long time, maybe an hour, and they continued to blow the whistle. They finally tell us they’re closing for the day and there’s an uproar from all the families that had arrived around the time we had and didn’t even get to get into the water. They gave us vouchers, but it was pretty crappy because we wouldn’t be around to use them because they’d be closed Wednesday and we were leaving Thursday. Ugh. So we gave them to Briana to use with the kids.

We get to Dina’s and she had just arrived from work. A drama show starts after a phone call from Jorge’s boys’ mother, who riled up Julien and he was inconsolable afterwards. Kept saying his mom had left him and he missed her. Heartbreaking. The boys confirmed that she’d not been home most of the week so he hadn’t seen her. It was sad, and Jorge was annoyed, so we gathered all the kids and went to the hotel.

We scanned the entire local phone book looking for take-out and couldn’t agree on anything with the kids so we just ordered pizza, from Pizza Hut this time. The kids were all thrilled, so that was great :). Can’t go wrong with pizza. Well, maybe for Eenan, but he was okay with it :).

We ate and joked around. Justin’s a clown!

(Hope he doesn’t flip because I posted that, haha!)

We got everyone showered and I was the last one. By the time I got out of the shower all the boys were fired up and hyper…and I find out Jorge let them have Capri Suns at almost midnight *sigh*. They were laughing their butts off, including Jorge! I finally had to switch to Strict Mom Mode and shush them all up!

The next morning only Jorgie and I were awake, so we sneaked off to get coffee for ourselves and Jorge. We watched TV while slowly each little head popped out of the covers. Some of the kids wanted breakfast from the diner, the rest wanted cereal in the room. So everyone ate, got ready and then we headed over to Dina’s, where we took an opportunity to get a group photo 🙂

Briana does a great job looking for stuff for us to do! This day, we’d visit Zilker Botanical Gardens. We usually take a hike with the kids at Walnut Creek, but this was different and AWESOME!

Throughout our hike, Julien would ask, “We see the dinosaur now?” and we’d say, “No, Pa, I don’t think we’ll find any…” and then we see this:

Jorge, Julien, Emily and I got separated from the group because the little ones needed to pee. We met up later at the butterfly area/children’s area. It was beautiful there!!

It was hot and the little ones were becoming antsy, but it was on to the next part of the trip: the Elizabet Ney Museum.

The kids thought they were visiting a castle, but they got a bit of a history lesson, heh. I was proud of how well-behaved they were :).

We went back to Dina’s apartment and ate, then packed our bags to go to the Micki Krebsbach Pool. Besides Jorgie dropping his phone in the pool and an initial stall because his in-grown toenails had become INCREDIBLY infected (and he never told us!), it was a great, great time. All us adults even went down the slide. Briana and I had to encourage each other, ’cause we’re both terrified of deep pools, but we eventually got on, TWICE!

Jorge and Javi went, too. Jorge was a bit terrified, only because he was afraid he and Javi would clear the turn and fly off due to their weight, haha, but they were fine!

I had a photo of Jorge doing the obstacle course (he kept “pish-poshing” when the kids would fall and said he could totally do it, but couldn’t LOL), but he’d kill me if I posted it :D. He did admit that it was harder than it looks, hah.

We finished the day at the pool and headed back to Dina’s. Everyone was exhausted after our long day. We gathered all our things after dinner (details are hazy now, but I think we ordered Chinese) and Jorgie spent the night there so we’d return to say our goodbyes in the morning.

We woke up, had breakfast, then checked out of the hotel. We picked up Jorgie and said our see-you-laters.

I wanted to visit East Austin Succulents so we Wazed the directions and after a slight wrong turn we found it. But only after passing by this bridge:

All the guys stayed in the car while Alethia, Emily and I browsed through the nursery.

I was in heaven :). The girls each picked a succulent and I picked two:

I drove around with them everywhere we went and prayed they’d make it home. They did. (But now that it’s been 6 months since I bought them, the one on the top right has since died, waaah! No wonder they sold it to me for $1 =\.)

We were going to drive home, spend the night and then leave to South Padre Island in the morning. But instead, we decided to drive to North Padre Island straightaway. We got a great rate on the hotel and were relieved to rest. Jorge went to Walmart to get sand toys (since we’d left all of the beach stuff at home), towels and I stayed with the kids and did some laundry. Jorge got back and since the kids wanted to walk over to the beach, we did.

We got back and washed everyone down and I finished laundry while Jorge ordered in Domino’s. And then, sleep!

Woke up the next day and we fed everyone. We made sure to gather all our things, pack our coolers and checked out and headed to the beach. It was a really nice day :).

And of course, he remembered:

A storm was rolling in and we left right on time. We got everyone washed and changed in the bathrooms nearby and then we tried finding a park on Waze. No luck, after circling the island forever. The kids snacked on stuff and then passed out:

And that was the end of our vacation. And it only took me 6 months to write about it, heh!

I haven’t updated in forever, I know. I must update on Jaylen & Justin’s birthdays/Easter, Alaethia’s first sleepover and both girls’ first play date (not including family), Disney on Ice, Jaylen’s band concert, the girls’ Field Day and Mother’s Day, which was this past weekend. But that requires a few hours, some silence and some coffee ^_^.

For now, I have to update on my very frugal, very successful shopping spree. Mom gave me cash as a gift for Mother’s Day and, as Mom’s usually do, I put it towards bills initially, heh.

I heard there was a sale going on at Old Navy so, since I wanted a navy blue cardigan (I recently realized I have tons of navy blue clothes O_o), I decided to stop by Wednesday after work to check it out.

I had some rewards coupons and after the sale prices I ended up paying $16 for a blouse, some sweat pants and 2 cardigans!

A super cute store opened on Main St. a while back called Vintage on Main and we had a Cash Mob at work, where we invite the community to take $20 cash to shop at a local business. How awesome is it that we can shop with permission during work ours hehe.

They had such great prices and everything was so whimsical and cute.

I found a black chiffon blouse there with gold dots and an antique-bronze owl necklace. Total cost: $9!

I went back to Old Navy today after work and found a few more things :).

A tee, a blouse, a cropped navy blue cardi, jeans and olive corduroy skinny pants for $23! The olive pants were ridiculously priced for $1.37! I’m already on Pinterest getting outfit ideas :P.

The even more amazing part is I still have some cash left over! I love me a bargain :).

And now I shall get back to Sons of Anarchy. Jorge and I are obsessed with the show. As soon as we do our mom and dad routine and put the girls to bed we turn on Netflix, grab a blanket and cuddle with Mabs and watch our show. It’s taken over my evenings and sabotaged my nightly run. We only have 1 1/2 more seasons to go and I can return to my regularly scheduled life :P.

You know how I mentioned that the kids and I didn’t have to go anywhere on Monday since they had Spring Break and I had gotten 2 days off?

Yeah. That didn’t happen.

Jorge has the house automated, which is a beautiful thing when I have to wake up at 6am every morning. The accent lighting under the bed turns on, the air conditioning turns off (since I absolutely despise feeling cold in the morning), the lights slowly turn on (from 20% to 50% in 10 minutes), as does music over the speakers. Meanwhile the TV turns on to channel 5 news in the bathroom. It’s perfect.

But I didn’t have to wake up at 6am Monday morning, so I had to wake up and turn everything off from my phone. No biggie. Then Jorge’s alarm for work goes off at 7:00. Then 7:15. Then 7:30. I crash out when I make sure he’s awake and getting ready and am briefly awakened when he kisses me before he leaves.

Then my boss calls at 8:15am to ask where some documents are. Then John texts me at 8:30 about going car shopping (his car’s transmission had died on him the week before). Then Gerry begins to text about some linens I had in my car that needed to be taken to the cleaners and could I go drop them off? FML.

We’d stayed up late with the kids the night before and I figured they’d sleep late anyway so I, somewhat reluctantly, decided I’d just get up and get ready to pick John up and go to the place Briana had just bought her car at last Saturday.

But first: he treated me to breakfast!

All was forgiven!

(Not really, but it subdued my morning “Snickers Moment” ^_^.)

So we went on to the place Briana went, and to make a long story short: John has no credit. 0 And because of this, he was presented with a 2004 who-knows-what, with peeling leather seats and dents all over the place. Oh yes, and they wanted $3,000 down. WTF.

So we scratched that and John immediately shut down and wanted to forget the whole thing. I told him Jorge’s friends, the ones who hooked us up with our vehicles, could help. I asked Jorge to call them and he did. They told us to go right over but John was unsure. So while he debated I stopped by Hidden Treasures, hehe.

Minnie, the owner, and I reminisced about the kids and how long I’ve been stopping by her store. I don’t stop by as often as I’d like, but I do at least twice a year. And I also snapped this pic:

How true is that? I picked up a Strawberry Shortcake rag doll (even though I already have one, heh) but you couldn’t beat the price. I also found a $2 Glow Worm that still had the battery compartment. Jorge IMMEDIATELY claimed it as his that evening ^_^.

We went home to make sure the kids were fed and so I could snuggle the girls for a while. They weren’t falling apart without me, though. They were having fun on their iPads and sprawled all over the living room. We chilled out for a while until John FINALLY made up his mind. We ate lunch, and I once again unwillingly got ready to go. I half-jokingly jabbed at John that he was ruining my day off.

We dropped the stupid linens off at my work and then we left to the dealership. We got to Weslaco, in the ugly, drizzly rain. To make another long story short (a story about 4+ hours long), John saw some cars, we spoke to RG and Ringo, they ran some numbers, we sat for a long time, John almost lost his shit because he was second-guessing EVERYTHING, I almost lost my shit because John was losing his shit, they got him the car he wanted, he was on the phone with insurance companies forever and FINALLY: he drove off in his new Dart. He kept it in the Dodge family LOL.

After dinner, the girls had a tea party:

Jorge, Justin, Jaylen and Eenan were in the background ^_^. Jorgie snuck in and I snapped a pic. Justin got away LOL

Jorge and Jorgie, Jaylen and Justin went to pick up a game at midnight at Game Stop, while Eenan played on his computer and the girls and I lazied around on the couch. I love how he’s all into these things with the kids :).

I spent the next day at home, at least, but I spent a lot of it cleaning and doing everything I didn’t do during the weekend, like laundry (grr).

I spent time playing Candy Land with the girls, then Jenga and then they got bored and abandoned me LOL. Later on I got the kids in on cleaning. Jorge was impressed when he got home :).

The weather was better so I planned to take the kiddos to the park, but there was 6 of them and one of me and the last thing I needed was an accident to happen *shudder*. Hate the thought. It’s not like the boys wanted to move anyway: they were too enthralled in their new game.

I taught Eenan how to use the skillet to make over-easy eggs and I made lunch for everyone else:

We spent the rest of the day just hanging out. It was back to work for me the next day and the kids would be leaving with Mario for the rest of the week after we got out of work. We split their “holiday” like we usually do. I just wish I’d gotten to spend more time with them =\.

It was a day of “catch up” for me at work. I had tons of bills to process and turn in for my department and they were due that day. Thankfully I’d already gotten everything started on Friday before I left. I got to meet my love for lunch at Tacos Kissi (LOVE that place! Became one of my faves!) and Marco and Jessica joined us. I ran some errands for work and the day went by pretty fast. I rushed home so I could get see the kids and make sure they had their things ready. Mary was already here waiting, grr.

So I made dinner for Jorge, Mom and I, which was garlic parmesan chicken, roasted broccoli and some guac. Javi and Eric stopped by with a gift for Jorge and I:

It was great! The pickles, candy and drink itself were so good. I didn’t eat the shrimpies (watching the cholesterol still), but it had TONS of shrimpies.

The guys hung out a while and they had dinner. They were already planning to go get tacos, but I guilt-tripped them into eating the plates I’d saved for them since they kept complaining they were hungry LOL. They cleaned their plates ^_^.

My boss was out on Thursday and it was sort of a slow day. I ran some errands for our bossboss and then it was time for lunch with my love. We went to Roosevelt’s this time. We finally made a date to go there! I haven’t had many opportunities to hang out with my love for lunch since I pick up my Emmos, so it’s really nice when we can go :).

I probably shouldn’t have had this meal, but it’s one of my faves. And I didn’t feel like having salmon or grilled chicken again =\.

Went back to work and cleaned my desk and some files. That took quite a while since I’d been sort of ignoring my mess, heh. My love wanted to look for some shoes for work and I wanted to get a price adjustment on 2 pairs of pants I’d bought for work at Old Navy, so I picked him up and we went. I got a whopping $30 back from my price adjustment, which was awesome. Jorge was impressed and so was the cashier, who had no idea LOL. I remember from my Old Navy days from 2000-2001 heh.

We went to Macy’s and my love had no luck finding shoes. They had a very small selection. So we picked up Jorge’s car and we came home. He and the boys had food I couldn’t eat for dinner, so I was satisfied with some multi-grain Cheerios. And then I passed out LOL.

I picked up some coffee and oatmeal for myself at McDonald’s the next morning since I was in a hurry to get to work. Laura, Ms. Thelma and I were going shopping for materials at Hobby Lobby for Latina.Hope. I was super excited. We got to go shopping and not spend our own money, woo!

Well. I still bought some crocheted lace for some straps I need to replace on a sundress and a display for my bracelets. (I had to put it in my closet ’cause Kika and Ruffles would knock it into the sink with my luck.)

I spent the rest of the morning organizing my charm bracelet supplies, typing up a tutorial and then it was lunch time. As much as my job stresses me out sometimes, some days are just AWESOME.

I met my love at Espi’s this time, where I had some chalupas. Probably could have done without the tortilla, but I’ve been doing alright.

I headed over to the antique shop next door where the owner and I got into a long-winded conversation about 80s toys and so on. He has my contact info just in case he gets anything in, woo!

I went grocery shopping after work (ugh) but it had to be done. I served Jorge and Justin some dinner when I got home and we chit chatted about their day before their mom got there. Jorge was home before she got here (of course) so he at least got to see the boys for a while.

We freshened up, as we actually made plans to do something on a Friday night, heh. Junior called us right before we left and asked us to go over since he had a surprise for us. We had no idea what he was talking about, but we’d be there right after dinner.

We met Esmer and Robert at Beef’s. It was nice catching up and talking about everything with them. They reminisced about their times at work together and then we got into how our past marriages exploded in our face and how Jorge and I ended up together. We’ve hung out many times before, but we’d never really gotten into talking about WHY it all happened. It was…therapeutic to vent about it all. I need actual therapy to forgive and forget I think, LOL.

So we ate (I had blackened fish, broccoli and rice and I have to say it was great!) and then we said our ‘see you laters’. We went to Tony’s afterwards. Our surprise was Rick!! We hadn’t seen him since he left back in 2011! The old Shack-mates (except for Billy and Roly) were back together again. We had another reminisce-fest and just had a great time singing, laughing, dancing and taking photos. Rick told us tons of times how glad he was that we ended up together and that we’re perfect for each other and compliment each other. I got teary several times, heh. I love those people!

Javi joined us later. It was the latest we’ve stayed out in probably 3 years LOL. It was so much fun!

Poor Jorge had to work in the morning but he was so tired he called his guys and pushed their schedule to 10am LOL. I’m glad he can do that. I made sure he woke up and then I passed out till…noon. I know. I NEVER sleep that late!!

I ate some cereal and chit-chatted with Mom. I went to my room to have my coffee and lazy in my PJ’s. Of course I started cleaning and forgot about my coffee for a while. I did some minor sprucing up to my 80’s page and I realized I wasted about 2 hours doing that LOL. I was inspired after receiving 2 packages:

I’m still missing 2 Fluppy Puppies (I had no idea until recently!) and these Nosy Bears are 2 of the rarer ones that I got for a bargain.

I got dressed and Mom and I visited Gramma for a while. She’s doing good, thank goodness. I love that little lady. I seriously need to make more time to see her. I feel crappy that I don’t sometimes :*(.

I got home and made some amazing fish tacos, if I do say so myself ^_^. I tried a new avocado-cabbage slaw. Both Mom and Jorge loved them.

We had told the guys we were going to go out to Hillbilly’s tonight, but Rick was recovering, Jorge took a nap, Javi’s out at a fight, Jr. is out with friends and so on. I spoke with the kiddos and since then I’ve been typing this up, watched and won an auction for Lisa on eBay, watched shows on DIY Network and once Jorge woke up we watched cat videos, more home improvement shows and have been on our respective electronics. And we’re ok with that, hehe. It’s been a pretty darn good week. Can’t wait to see my babies!